Brands are critical in shaping the world’s net-zero journey
AS WORLD leaders convene in Dubai for the COP28 summit, the desert heat serves as a stark reminder for businesses worldwide of the pivotal role it can play, as the international community forges ahead with ambitious plans to reduce its carbon footprint. This urgency is underscored by a new United Nations report, cautioning against a projected 2.5 deg C to 2.9 deg C temperature rise this century, with only a slim 14 per cent chance of limiting warming to the safer threshold of 1.5 deg C. These findings echo earlier warnings from the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), highlighting the potential for catastrophic consequences even with a modest increase of 1.5 deg C in global temperatures.
While many companies have pledged to lower their emissions to net zero by 2050 or earlier, and major financial institutions, representing trillions of dollars in assets, have committed to minimising carbon-heavy investments, it’s clear there is much more to be done if we’re to shift the trend.
A recent study commissioned by advertising firm dentsu, in collaboration with Kantar, sheds light on a solution rooted in transforming how people consume, live, travel, and work. Surveying 12 Asia-Pacific (Apac) markets, this pioneering research emphasises that the responsibility disproportionately falls on businesses and brands. It suggests that businesses must radically reimagine marketing to make sustainability a guiding principle of the function.
Brands occupy a unique position to influence consumer behaviour and lifestyles, shaping the narrative that not only impacts individuals but also sways policymakers towards adopting new social and cultural norms, technology, and infrastructure. These actions align with the IPCC report’s identification of demand-side mitigation strategies as having the potential to achieve a 40 per cent to 70 per cent reduction in greenhouse gas emissions by 2050 through driving consumer behaviour and lifestyle changes.
Imagine if the talent and skills behind iconic marketing campaigns – such as those of McDonalds, Disney, Microsoft, Coca-Cola, or Nike, which have effectively shaped culture and altered consumer habits – focused on shifting the public conscience towards climate reduction. With global advertising spending set to hit a massive US$740 billion in 2023, the possibilities to reshape the sustainability narrative appear endless.
Despite 80 per cent of Apac companies having sustainability frameworks in place, and 92 per cent of marketers deeming the topic “important” or “very important”, a critical gap exists. Marketers in Apac struggle to justify investment in sustainability efforts, with 38 per cent finding it challenging to demonstrate its positive impact on the business. Marketing departments fall behind other internal divisions in working towards sustainability goals, with only 34 per cent claiming execution and progress measurement, compared to 46 per cent in supply chain and 51 per cent in corporate strategy.
The potential to generate real, positive change in terms of what and how people consume is immense, but this must start now. While the dentsu and Kantar joint study focused solely on the marketing function, the insight it uncovered indicates a deep-set inertia and lack of urgency within businesses at large. At its core lies a steadfast reluctance to disrupt established ways of working, despite compelling evidence that the true costs to communities and to the planet have surpassed justifiable limits.
For businesses to stand a chance of meeting 2030 goals, even with a 20-year delay, they must push the boundaries of their imagination, purposefully innovating beyond mere “net zero”. Getting ruthless about adopting circular and regenerative practices is now an undeniable necessity.
Marketers, positioned as both internal and external change agents due to their intimate understanding of consumers motivation and behaviours, should play a pivotal role. Leveraging this understanding, they can provide a nuanced, data-driven perspective that drives meaningful, profitable, sustainable innovation that fosters enduring change.
Recognising another critical dimension, the shift to a net-zero world must also be just. The World Bank estimates that 132 million people could face extreme poverty by 2030 due to the transition, highlighting the importance of a just transition. While a carbon-neutral economy has the potential to create millions of new jobs, businesses must ensure the workforce and local communities possess the skills, investments, and capabilities needed to thrive in the face of rapid climate and commercial change.
As the conversations at major gatherings like COP28 heat up, so too does the pressure on business to wield its immense power to influence positive societal change, as a force for good as it has long been in the past.
The writer is CEO of dentsu Asia Pacific. He attended the World Business Council for Sustainable Development’s council meeting 2023, held on Nov 28-29 in Dubai in conjunction with COP28.
